In the event of an agreement between the East and West of the Euphrates under international sponsorship, all the issues in Syria will be resolved in due course, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi, told the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “We do not accept a return to the past. The Autonomous Administration has existed for ten years, and they must accept it constitutionally,” Abdi said. “With regard to the military file, by which I mean the SDF and Asayish, the regime must recognize both of them. However, the regime is not yet prepared to take that step,” Abdi further explained. The SDF Commander in Chief said in the interview “a solution will not be reached without international parties putting constant pressure on the Assad regime. We believe that, in the event of an agreement between the East and West of the Euphrates under international sponsorship, all the issues in Syria will be resolved in due course.”
Three Turkish soldiers were killed in southeastern Turkey on Saturday when a bomb exploded on the border with Syria, the Turkish defense ministry said. According to al-Araby al-Jadeed, the ministry said they died in the town of Akcakale in Sanliurfa province after a handmade bomb detonated “put there by terrorists” but did not provide more details. On the other side of the Turkish border is the Syrian town of Tal Abyad, held by Turkish forces and Syrian proxies after Ankara launched a military operation against a Kurdish militia in October 2019.
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International coalition forces led by the United States have taken measures to make “reinforcements” at their military base in northeastern Syria two days after coming under attack by Iran-backed militias in Deir-ez-Zor’s countryside, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday. “A convoy carrying logistic and military equipment has left the international coalition base in Conoco gas field heading to the coalition base in the al-Omar oilfield in east Deir-ez-Zor’s countryside,” reliable sources have informed the Observatory. “We can’t say definitively who caused them or why the attacks seem to have stepped up,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday about the rocket attacks on the base.
Sgt. 1st Class Robert Nicoson, the paratrooper who was accused of leading a patrol into an unnecessary gunfight in Syria before ordering troops to delete videos of the incident, was acquitted of all charges Friday evening after a court-martial at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The soldier’s civilian defense attorney, Phillip Stackhouse, argued that the patrol had briefed leaders that it would go to the checkpoint and the alleged threats Nicoson made were intended to deter an attack. Accusations that Nicoson tried to cover up the incident ultimately lost traction, as well. “He was fully acquitted of all of the allegations,” Stackhouse told Army Times. The Spokesman for the 82nd Airborne Division, Lt. Col. Brett Lea, confirmed the acquittal Saturday morning.
